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Art from Le Imagini de gli Dei de gli Antichi by Vincenzo Cartari,

1664

Pan, the Goat-God of NatureBy Mark Dotson

There is no Greek god as strange and bizarre as Pan, part man, part goat.

Pan was depicted as a man with the horns, legs and tail of a goat, and with

thick beard, snub nose and pointed ears. e often appears in the retinue of

Dionysos alongside the other rustic gods. Greeks in the classical ageassociated his name with the word pan meaning !all!. owe"er, it true

origin lies in an old #rkadian word for rustic $Theoi Greek Mythology%.

&t is said that Dionysos was especially delighted in Pan. 'o surprise here. Pan is the godof nature, wild and rustic. e ne"er dwells in ci"ilized areas, but always remains in the

wild, hunting, playing music, and chasing nymphs. e is a god of fishermen and hunters.is uncertain genealogy bespeaks his wandering ways.

(arl (erenyi, in his book, God of the Gree!, says that ermes was his father, but it is

uncertain. ermes sometimes appeared as a phallic god. This role was inherited by Pan,

as well. )hen Pan was born, it is said that his mother, frightened by the beard and goathorns, fled away from her newly born child. is father, ermes, wrapped him in a hare*s

pelt and whisked him off to +lympus, where, there, the gods recei"ed and welcomed him

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with open arms. Dionysos took a liking to the goatgod right away and Pan was often

found in his company in wild landscapes.

The primary importance in discussing Pan has to do with his e-istence in the human

psyche. Pan played a large role in the worship of the Greek and later the omans, in

"arious guises. The ancient peoples who recognized Pan as ali"e were "ery much in touch

with the ways and things of nature, both the inner and outer nature of humankind $theseare, howe"er, inseparable%.

There are many characteristics of Pan that one should in"estigate. These will further selfknowledge concerning nature and our role in it. /ames illman, in his enlightening essay,

which ser"es as an introduction to the 0nglish translation of )ilhelm einrich oscher*s

"an and the #ightmare, does an amazing 1ob of dealing with the comple-ities of the

goatgod.

Greek myth asserted that Pan is the god of nature. +ur 2hristianinfluenced culture still

"iews Pan as the De"il, which image took root in )estern culture after Plutarch declaredin the first century 20, !Great Pan is dead! $$oralia, %he &bolecence of &racle%.

#fter this, the image of Pan metamorphosed into the current image of 3atan, a horned andclo"enhoofed instigator of absolute e"il. This resulted in Pan*s denial and repression in

the human psyche. This repression has since caused much suffering and trouble in the)estern world.

To understand why the transformation of Pan into 3atan, a being that, according to2hristianity, is to be eschewed, we much e-amine the reasons why Pan is so "aluable to

the human soul, and why we need to recognize him as being a crucial archetype in the

soul*s pantheon. &n this, & will borrow hea"ily from illman*s essay.

4irst of all, Pan*s place of birth in #rcadia is "ery important. illman says it !is both a

physical and a psychic location.! !&n 0uropean enaissance arts, #rcadia was celebrated

as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness! $)ikipedia%. Pan lo"ed wild places, such as

!ca"es obscure,! as in the +rphic ymn to Pan.

is habitat in anti5uity, like that of his later oman shapes $4aunus,

3il"anus% and companions, was always dells, grottos, water, woods andwilds ne"er "illages, ne"er the tilled and walled settlements of the

ci"ilized6 ca"ern sanctuaries, not constructed temples $illman -"iii%.

This is the wild, natural, instinct that belongs to all of us as humans. Pan is, pardon thepun, a "ery horny character. e spent much of his time chasing after nymphs. Most of the

time, he is portrayed with an erection. 3o, se- plays a large role in the wild nature of Pan,

and in our souls, as well. )e know the conse5uences of the repressed se-ual instinct.Much harm has been wrought o"er the centuries because of se-ual repression.

Pan was said to cause great panic, as in the sudden terror that 5uickly spreads through a

herd of animals. The human e-perience of fearful panic, as in !panic attacks,! is broughton by Pan. There are two sides to panic. +ne is acted out and stimulated by fear6 the other

repressed and held in as an-iety. illman says fear possesses an ob1ect, but an-iety has

none. Both can result in death.These are two e-tremes of human instinct, but one and thesame god that brings them about.

Then, there is the twosided constellation of panic and se-uality in Pan7

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To further mi- the conte-ts7 let us say that the world of nature, Pan8s

world, is in a continual state of subliminal panic 1ust as it is in a continual

state of subliminal se-ual e-citation. #s the world is made by 0ros, heldtogether by that cosmogonic force and charged with the libidinal desire

that is Pan...so its other side, panic, recognised by the Buddha belongs to

the same constellation. #gain, we come back to Pan and the two e-tremesof instinct $illman, --"ii--"iii%.

This is a "ery comple- archetype we are dealing with here, to say the least. To deal with

the many comple-ities that accompany the study of Pan would takes many "olumes. &became so fascinated with this topic after reading illman*s essay that & had to write

something about it, albeit a small and paltry contribution.

illman goes to great length in discussing the place that rape plays in Pan*s beha"ior.0"en though we see this as repulsi"e and disgusting, these things are not to be literalized.

The rape of the soul occurs all the time. )e must think imaginally concerning these

things. +n this sub1ect, read the essay.

illman also goes into the sub1ect of masturbation, and how Pan relates to it. Thefollowing is a good summation of his thinking in regard to this act, which 2hristianity

and socalled ci"ilized society, has long forbidden7

...masturbation may be understood in its own right and from within its

own archetypal pattern, condemned neither as substitute beha"iour forprisoners and shepherds, as regressi"e beha"iour for adolescents, as

recurrence of +edipal fi-ations, nor as a senseless compulsion of

physiology to be inhibited by the opposite prohibitions of personal

relations, religion and society. #s masturbation connects us with Pan asgoat, it also connects us with his other half, the'artie ('erie(reof the

instinctual function7 selfconsciousness. Because it is the only se-ual

acti"ity performed alone, we may not 1udge it solely in terms of its ser"iceto the species or to society. ather than focusing upon its useless role in

e-ternal ci"ilisation and procreation, we may reflect upon its usefulness

for internal culture and creati"ity. By intensifying interiority with 1oy 9and with conflict and shame, and by "i"ifying fantasy, masturbation,

which has no purpose for species or society, yet brings genital pleasure,

fantasy and guilt to the indi"idual as psychic es thesub1ect. &t se-ualizes

fantasy, brings body to mind, intensi e-perience of conscience andconfirms the powerful reality of the intro"erted psyche 9 was it not

in"ented for the solitary shepherd piping through the empty places of our

inscapes and who reappears when we are thrown into solitude. By

constellating Pan, masturbation brings nature and its comple-ity back intothe o'( contra nat(ramof soulmaking $illman, ---"%.

#t one time in )estern history, the nature of Pan had, for the most part, been nullifiedand 5uiesced by the 2hurch and its teachings. The past one hundred years or so ha"e seen

a resurgence of interest in Pan and what he means for nature and human consciousness.

The psychological ramifications of "iewing Pan as 3atan, or as e"il in general, seem to beharmful to the soul. 2ertainly, Pan must be connected to the 3hadow archetype in some

way, for some characteristics of Pan certainly represent shadow material, indeed. That is

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not to say that Pan*s beha"ior was always strange and bizarre. e was 5uite fond of music

and dancing. #spects of his nature are, according to illman, "ery therapeutic to the soul.

The admonition from illman is to not suppress the god, Pan. :earn of his nature, for

there is much to be gained.

)e shall not be able to find our way back to harmony with nature throughthe study of it alone. Though our ma1or concern is ecological, it cannot be

sol"ed through ecology alone. The importance of technology and scientific

knowledge for protecting nature8s processes goes without saying, but partof the ecological field is human nature, in whose psyche the archetypes

dominate. &f Pan is suppressed there, nature and instinct will go astray no

matter how we strain on rational le"els to set things right. &n order to

restore, conser"e and promote nature ;out there;, nature ;in here8 must alsobe restored, conser"ed and protected to precisely the same degree.

+therwise our perceptions of nature out there, our actions upon it and our

reactions to it, will continue to show the same mangled e-aggerations ofinade5uate instinct as in the past. )ithout Pan, our good intentions to

rectify past mistakes will only perpetrate them in other forms $illman,

l-i%.

+ne must simply read illman*s essay, which can be found here at 3cribd.